The Peddler's Gray Pony

An elderly peddler with gray whiskers, riding a gray pony, was seen heading toward a Cherokee man's house in Indian country. Days later a dead horse and burned human remains were found within a mile of that house, along with bills and letters belonging to a missing peddler. Five witnesses said the Cherokee man had claimed that he and another man had killed a white peddler. Charged with murder, he admitted the peddler had visited but said the peddler rode away with another man, who told him the next day that he had killed him. The defence argued the evidence did not prove the dead man was white, and that a continuance for a missing defence witness should have been granted.